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Canadians Want Low-Carbon Energy Leadership

KANANASKIS, AB - July 19, 2011 - Canada needs a plan to ensure the nation doesn’t get left behind in the global race to a clean-energy future.

That’s what a broad selection of more than 150 companies, organizations, and academics told Tides Canada in endorsing the foundation’s A New Energy Vision for Canada. The document outlines a vision of a highly energy efficient nation that has largely moved to clean energy sources by about 2050. It also suggests key elements of a national energy strategy that would deliver such a future.

The foundation unveiled the list of endorsers today after presenting the vision and recommendations to Canada’s federal, provincial, and territorial energy ministers at their annual summit in Kananaskis, Alberta.

“The changes sweeping the energy world today have huge implications for Canada and its future prosperity,” said Merran Smith director of Tides Canada's Energy Initiative. “With the right decisions and actions today, Canada can emerge in the decades ahead as a clean-energy superpower. The opportunities are real and the race is on, as major nations position themselves to prosper in the coming low carbon global economy.”

A New Energy Vision for Canada is a bold portrait of an achievable future of a prosperous Canada, with comfortable and efficient homes and livable cities. In this future, almost all vehicles are electrified or powered by liquid renewable fuels. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are created in building this future. Canadians are healthier, and enjoy an enviable reputation as developers and exporters of a wide range of clean-energy and efficiency innovations.

“The forest products industry recognizes the imperative of a sound plan that would seek to transition Canada to a low carbon economy,” said Avrim Lazar, the president and CEO of the Forest Products Association of Canada. “Our nation's abundant biomass resources will play an essential role in our clean-energy future. The issues raised in A New Energy Vision for Canada are integral to the nation's future economic agenda.”

Tides Canada collaboratively developed A New Energy Vision for Canada earlier this year, after consulting with more than 100 energy leaders in over a dozen workshops from coast to coast. More than 150 national associations, churches and other faith groups, cleantech and renewable energy firms, health organizations, venture capital companies, local governments, environmental organizations, universities, and others have since signed on.

“The breadth of this list really underscores how critical energy is to all Canadians – it touches the life of almost every citizen,” added Smith. “It’s powerful to see such a broad cross-section of Canadian civil society coming together under one tent to call for real leadership on efficiency and clean energy.”A New Energy Vision for Canada can be viewed at http://www.tidescanada.org/energy/newenergy

About Tides CanadaTides Canada is the country’s largest public foundation dedicated to the environment and social justice. Every year, we support, convene or directly fund hundreds of initiatives, from neighbourhood-scale social programs to national conservation efforts. Non-partisan and national in scope, Tides Canada understands that the process of creating outcomes that work for people and the planet is complex, and involves reconciling divergent viewpoints. The foundation's energy initiative is are bringing together a diverse array of civil society leaders, businesses and others to build support for a bold and credible vision of a prosperous low-carbon Canada.